Device for opening elevator-doors



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. RICE. DEVICE POR OPENING ELEVATOR DOORS.

No. 593,434. Patented Nov. 9,1897.

I g i: I5 lF-VJH--L-n' L 'FJ-' T''J i uw( 7 l 51""4 5 L L Ef1 r 4 f' we l 1 l wwwa@ 5" me nonms wenn; on. Pnoruurwn.. mamut-Yam n, c

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J, RICE. DEVICE IOR OPENING ELEVATOR DOORS.

No. 593,434. Patented Nov. 9, "1897. M- 4/0 J9 f '1 me Nanne :grens co. .wnoaumm wAsHmcfrow, a c

UNITED 'STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH RICE, vOF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DEVICE FOR OPENING ELEVATORDOORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 593,434, dated November 9, 1897.

Application filed November 2, 1896. Serial Nol 610,808. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, .IOSEPHIRIOL a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Opening Elevator-Doors, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

My invention relates to devices for automatically opening and closing doors, and more particularly to that class in which the door is continually under the inuence of a spring or other force tending to close it and in which the opening of the door is eected by other agencies under the control of the conductor on the car or cab.

My invention has for one of its important objects to provide simple and eective means whereby the opening of the door may be effected electrically. Y

Another object of my invention is to provide the car or cab with a motor for operating the door and at the same time have the construction such that it will be incapable of opening or otherwise changing the position of the door, excepting when the cab is in the proper position for receiving or discharging passengers.

W'ith these ends in view my invention consists in certain features of novelty in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts by which these objects and certain other objects hereinafter appearing are attained, all as fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In said drawings, Figure l is a cross-section of the car-floor, looking toward the door and showing my improvements in side elevation, the electric circuit being shown diagrammatically This view also illustrates the eletail plan sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of the shoe which is operated by the solenoid or motor to effect the opening of the door. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. l, illustrating certain modifications hereinafter explained; and Fig. 6 is a plan view thereof, partly broken away. Y

Like signs of reference indicate like part-s throughout the several views.

l and 2 represent the floors of the building where the elevator shaft or well is cut through, and 3 represents the cab-floor, 4 being the door of the elevator-shaft, supported in the usual or any suitable manner, so as to be capable of sliding back and forth before the door of the elevator cab or car. The door 4 is opened and closed through the intermediary of any suitable operative connection by my improved device, and this operative connection preferably consists'of an upright lever 5, pivoted at its upper end to one end of a short link 6, whose other end is pivoted at 7 to the door 4, so as to accommodate the connection between the door and the lever to the arc described by the lever. The lower end of this'lever 5 is pivoted at 8 to a bracket or other suitable support 9, secured on the lower side of the floor l 2, one of these levers 5 being located at each floor where it is desired to have the car stop. The lever 5 is located in close propinquity to the door or to the edge of the elevator-shaft, so as to permit the car 3 to pass up and down without striking it. The lever 5 is thrown in one direction, preferably the closing direction of the door 4, by means of a spring or some other agency exerting a normal tendency in that direction. A simple device for accomplishing this consists of a box lO, secured to the side of the ooring 1 2 and containing a coil-spring Il, which presses normally against a plunger or head 12, arranged in the box 10 and having a rod 13 connected to the lever 5 by means of a link 14 or other loose connection. By this means it will be seen, that the door will be held closed and will be returned to vits closed position when not under the control of other agencies.

Projecting from the side of the lever 5 is a stud, lug, or other projection l5, which is preferably in the form of an antifriction-roller, and arranged upon the cab or car 3 is a vertically-elongated shoe 16, which is provided with mechanism, presently to be described, whereby it is forced laterally or horizontally against the stud 15 and the. door thus caused ICO to open and remain open as long as the shoe 16 is opposite the stud 15 and remains under the tension or power which propelled it forward against the stud. This shoe 16 is provided on one side with a block or enlargement 17, through which passes a track or way 18,whereby the shoe may slide back and forth in parallelism with the vertical plane through which the lever 5 oscillates. This block 17 is also provided with a horizontal or lateral socket 19, in which engages the free end of a q lever 20, pivoted at 21 to any suitable support on the bottom of the cab-licor 3, the track or Way 18 having its ends secured in supporting-arms 22 23, which project from the side of the main support or bracket 24, secured to the bottom of the cab-floor. Thus it will be seen that when the lever 2O is oscillated the shoe 16 will slide back and forth upon its way 18 and engage the stud 15 or recede therefrom, according to the direction of movement. This lever 2O may receive its motion from any suitable motor carried by the cab or car, but preferably by means of an electric motor, and of this class a solenoid 25, which is suitably mounted upon the main bracket 24 and has its armature or core 26, provided with a rod 27 pivoted to the lever 2O by means of a slipjoint or any arrangement that will provide for the curved movement of the lever and the straight movement of the armature. When the solenoid is energized, the armature 26 will be drawn thereinto and the shoe 16 will consequently be forced against the stud 15 on the lever 5 and the door will be opened and held open until the current is broken or until the shoe 16 rises above or falls below the stud 15, whereupon the spring 11 will instantly close the door. In order, however, that the door may not be opened or closed with objectionable rapidity and jar, l

. provide a dash-pot or other power-absorbing pot 27, mounted upon the main bracket 24 below the cab-floor and having its piston 28 connected by rod 29 to the armature or core 26. This dash-pot 27 is provided with a receiving-chamber 29, into which the oil or other liquid contents of the dash-pot is forced through the passage 30 5 but in order that this passage may aord a comparatively free return of the liquid into the cylinder of the dash-pot without also permitting free entrance of the fluid into the chamber 29 the passage 30 is provided with a check-valve 31, which may itself be provided with a small perforation 3la or caused to regularly seat, so that the piston 28 when moving forward while the door is being opened can do so only so fast as the liquid can escape into the chamber 29 through the contracted passage in the valve 3l; but when the door is being closed by the less powerful force of the spring 11 the valve 31 will open and the liquid return tothe cylinder of the dash-pot more or less freely, but

in either event the door will by this means be prevented from slamming. It will be prevented from sudden opening by the liquid escaping out of the cylinder of the dash-pot and from sudden closing (so long as the shoe 16 is opposite the stud or lug 15) by the slow return ofthe liquid back into such cylinder. This solenoid or motor may be thrown into or out of circuit by any suitable connections that will readily suggest themselves tov the skilled electrician; but whatever these connections be it is preferable that they be of such a character that the circuit cannot be closed through the solenoid, even though the operators switch be turned for that purpose, until the shoe 16 has reached a position opposite the stud 15 on the lever 5, thus making it impossible for a careless operator or conductor to throw the shoe16 before it reaches the stud 15, and thereby cause it to hook under or over the stud and damage the mechan ism. To the end, however, that the conductor may not be compelled to exercise too much discretion and care, the shoe 16 is elongated v vertically a reasonable extent, so that should the switch for closing the circuit be set before the car actually reaches the ioor at which it is to stop the shoe will engage the stud 15 as soon as it comes opposite, and hence have the door fully open by the time the car reaches the floor-level. The form of connections for accomplishing this preferably consists of an electrical conductor 32, depending in the elevator-shaft and connected at its upper end to one pole of any suitable source of electricity, while the lower end is allowed to droop in the shaft under the car and is connected with one terminal of the solenoid. The other terminal 33 of the solenoid is connected to a switch 34, which is carried by the car, and this switch 34 when thrown into its closed position for the purpose of opening the door is adapted to engage with an elongated contact 35, fixed with relation to the car and being in circuit with a lead 36, which extends throughout the height of the elevator-shaft. This contact 35 is approximately the length of the shoe 16,a,nd it is so located with respect to the floor of the building that should the switch 34 be set to open the door the circuit would not beclosed until the switch had risen with the cara suficient distance to engage with the contact 35, and at such elevation the shoe will be opposite the stud 15. Consequently the operator need exercise no care in the manipulation of the switch 34, it simply being necessary to.

from the contact 35 and the spring 11 would thereupon close thedoor. One of these contacts 35 is of course arranged in the elevatorshaft at each floor of the building. a The extremities, of the shoe 16 maybe bev IOO eled or curved, as shown, so as to avoid any possibility of the shoe hooking over the stud 15 in the event it should, through some cause, fail to recede to the extremity of its retracting movement. y

In Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings, which illustrate a niodication of my invention,-I have located one of the shoes at each iioor instead of but one on the car or cab, as in the form already described. In this instance the shoe is shown at 16, and it is secured to a stem 37, which works back and forth in a box or bracket 38, secured to the floor 1 or to the wall of the elevator-shaft. This shoe 16u is also provided on the opposite side with a pair of stems 39, which pass through perforated ears 40, and located on these stems 39, between the shoe and the ears 40, are coil-springs 41, which exert a normal tendency to force the shoe 16 toward the left, and thus close the door through the intermediary of the lever 5, which in this instance is pivoted at 42 to the bracket or plate 43, which supports the shoe, and has its lower end pivoted to a link 44, which is also pivoted' to the side of the shoe 16a. The motor mechanism carried by the cab is the same in this instance as in the form already described excepting that the lever to which the armature is connected and which is shown at 20a is pivoted at or about its mid-length to a bracket 45 on the bottom of the cab-floor and carries at its free extremity an-antifrictionroller 46, which engages with the shoe 16n and forces the same .toward the springs 41, compressing them and causing the door to open.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination with the elevator-shaft door and the car, of an electric motor on the car, a movable projection and a shoe coperating with each other to effect the movement of the door, said projection and shoe being operatively connected the one with the door and the other with the motor, an electric contact iixed with relation to the car and connected to a source of electricity, means carried by the car for connecting with said contact and being connected with one pole of the motor, and means for completing the circuit through the other pole of the motor and said contact, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with the elevator-shaft door and the car, of an electric motor on said car, a movable projection and a verticallyelongated shoe cooperating with each other to effect the movement of the door, the said projection and shoe being operatively connected the one with the door and the other with the motor, a vertically-elongated contact fixed with relation to the car, an electric terminal connected with one pole of the motor and a circuit-closing device carried by the car and connected with the other pole of the motor and being adapted to engage with said elongated contact .when the car reaches a certain elevation, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with the elevator-shaft door and the car, of a motor carried by the car, a movable projection and an elongated shoe coperating with each other to eect the movement of saiddoorthe said projection and shoe being operatively connected the one with the motor and the other with the door, an electric conductor connected with one pole of the motor, a movable switch carried by the car and connected with the other pole of the motor, and an electric conductor having a vertically-elongated contact fixed with relation to the car and adapted to be struck and engaged by said switch when the switch is turned on, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination with the elevator-shaft door and the car, of a motor carried bythe car, a pivoted lever operatively connected with the door and fixed with relation to the car, a stud or projection on said lever, a shoe operatively connected with said motor and adapted to engage said stud for moving the door in one direction, and means for moving the door in the other direction, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination vwith the elevator-shaft door and the car, of a motor carried by the car, a movable projection having operative connect-ion with the door, a shoe adapted to engage with said projection for oscillating said lever, a track or Way upon which said shoe slides, a lever pivoted to the car and loosely connected with said shoe and being also connected with said motor, whereby the door is moved in one direction, and means for moving the door in the opposite direction, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination with the elevator-shaft door and the car, of a movable projection operatively connected with the door, a motor carried by the car, means whereby said motor moves said projection for forcing the door in one direction, means for moving the door in the opposite direction, and a dash-pot having operative connection with said motor for preventing the door from slamming, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination with the elevator-shaft door and the car, of a motor carried by the car, means whereby the operation of said motor moves the door in one direction, means for moving the door in the opposite direction,

a piston connected with said motor, a cylinder in which said piston is arranged, a chamber having a communicating passage with said cylinder, and a valve partly closing said passage and adapted to be forced open by the movement of the piston, substantially as set forth.

JOSEPH RICE.

Witnesses:

F. A. HOPKINS, EDNA B. JOHNSON.

IOO

IIO 

